Can Active Video Games Improve Physical Activity in Adolescents? A Review of RCT

Abstract

Children and adolescents are not meeting the required federal physical activity (PA) guidelines established by the United States Department of Health and Human Services. It is critical that a regular pattern of PA is established in their youth to ensure ongoing PA into adulthood. However, many programs implemented during adolescence have shown limited effects, stressing the need for more innovative approaches to generate more interest and maintenance of PA behavior in this age group. Active video games (AVGs) or exergaming may prove to be an innovate process to improve PA in children and adolescents. A literature review was conducted to explore if active video games or exergaming could be an effective intervention to improve physical activity in adolescents. Active video games, also called “exergames”, are a category of video games that require movement or physical exertion to play the game. The methodology consisted of searching Academic Search Premier, CINAHL, The Cochrane Library, ERIC, PubMed, and Web of Science databases. Inclusion criteria involved only youth aged 12 to 19 years, randomized controlled trials (RCTs), and studies within the last 12 years. The following search terms were used: exergaming or active video games; physical activity or exercise; adolescents or youth; RCT or randomized clinical trial. The outcome indicates that exergaming or active video games can be an effective tool to improve PA in adolescents that will be more acceptable and sustainable than many conventional approaches.

All that glitters is not gold. The rise of gaming in the COVID-19 pandemic

“…While violent video games can increase aggressive and deviant behaviors, prosocial video games can promote positive social interactions and the development of social skills ( Greitemeyer & Mügge, 2014 ). Referring to the “next level” of computer games, several authors argue that in addition to being feasible, attractive, and fun, active video games (AGVs) are an effective means of increasing general levels of physical activity and ultimately improving people’s health, especially if they spend a lot of time at home ( Williams & Ayres, 2020 ).…”

Promotion of Healthy Lifestyles to Teenagers with Mobile Devices: A Case Study in Portugal

“…Based on the research of the strategies implemented to encourage the use of this type of mobile applications by young people, we found that it is necessary to innovate regularly with different ideas, requiring an interactive design, ease of use, frequent updating of information, use of questionnaires as interaction with young people, use of gamification and promoting benefits from using the application [26][27][28][29][30].…”

School-Based Interventions for Promoting Physical Activity Using Games and Gamification: A Systematic Review Protocol

“…This can improve health status and offer other social and academic benefits [72]. Accordingly, the systematic review by Williams et al [46] concluded that AVGs can be an effective means of increasing adolescents' overall PA levels. Moreover, a 12-week school-based intervention (60 min/twice per week) based on AVGs improved Chinese children's PA levels [73].…”

“…Five categories of search terms will be identified: (a) games (serious games and applied games and AVGs) and gamification, (b) physical activity, (c) school, (d) intervention, and (e) age. The terms for each category will be obtained by consulting other reviews, such as (a) serious games and AVG [19][20][21][46][47][48][49][50], gamification [26,40,51,52], (b) physical activity [53,54], and (c) intervention [55,56]. Regarding the high diversity of game-related terms used in the literature, the most used and standardized terms found in the scientific references will be included in the current review.…”